


Ghosts

by brat1



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Sorry Not Sorry, dave makes a small apperance, ill add tags as i go, might end up shippy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 16:30:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3576195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brat1/pseuds/brat1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John lives alone happily with his two ghosts- a cat and a little girl who asks about watching movies. Karkat thinks he's full of shit- until he becomes one of the ghosts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, so my bad if it sucks. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Let me know what you think? It's going to alternate views for a bit.  
> -H

Backstory-

John can see ghosts. He has his entire life. He has never told anyone. He wants to tell Karkat. There's two ghosts in his house- a little girl who loves movies and a cat. Karkat thinks this is all bullshit. He yells at John for lying. He leaves in a fit, driving off. 

~~now~~

Karkat sits up, feeling just about nothing. It's odd. His dream was absolutely terrifying. He died in it, or well he remembers dying in it. It was pretty instant but he remembers the pain so vividly.

The lights, a crash, his body jolting forward, the crash against the steering wheel.

Karkat opens his eyes and sighs, squinting at the light. Fucking bright ass sun. He freezes though as he finds himself sitting in the middle of the road. He gasps and scrambles to get up, his body feeling sore. What the hell happened? He jogs to the safety of the pavement and runs his hands through his hair. He has a killer headache. He reaches in his pocket- only to find it's empty. Where the hell is his phone? He checks all possible places and glances to where he was in the street. No phone. He sighs and starts walking. Was he drugged?

He starts jogging to John's house since it's not that far away and though he feels kind of angry at John still, he's too confused for his own good. On his way, he passes some kids and he doesn't realize them until they're about to collide.

It's a cold chill through his body.

It's a hard hit to his core.

Nothing even hit him though.

Karkat whips around and watches the two kids chasing each other continue down the street. They went directly through them. He runs faster to John's, feeling scared now. He doesn't know what's going on!

~~~~

John sits on his couch, his head in his hands. This is entirely his fault. Karkat ran out last night after yelling at him. He wasn't lying though- he swears he can see ghosts. He talks to them- he saw the cat this morning! He did it right before he got the call. Karkat was in a car accident. His best friend is dead and it's his fault.

He doesn't know how to react to this. He's never had someone he know die. He's only talked and seen others. He doesn't know how to feel about this. Maybe Karkat can just pass over to whatever's beyond being a ghost, or maybe he could come back? He doesn't wish that on anyone though. He would only be able to talk to John and he won't age. He can't live his life... It's just a semi-existence.

~~~~

Karkat had a habit of just walking in, so he does. Right through the damn door. Is this another dream? He pauses as he watches John, why is he crying? He walks in quietly, no knowing what to say. Because he's nervous, John can't see or hear him. He sits down with John on the couch and leans down to try and look at him. "John?" He asks, his voice shaking. John sets his phone on the table and leans back, sniffling quietly. Karkat looks between John and the phone before looking at it.

TG- you can always talk to me bro

TG- feeling jams aren't too harsh

TG- we can even strife it out

TG- i like to think he's in a good place

TG- with tons of shitty romcoms

~~~~

Karkat raises an eyebrow and looks at John. What happened? He moves away a bit and bites his lip. They can't be talking about him, can that? That would be ridiculous. He's not dead! He doesn't remember much though. Just a foggy crash. He thinks his death would be clear if he was a ghost! Karkat jumps as something brushes his leg. What the fuck? He looks down, seeing a big fuzzy cat. John has a cat? No way!

~~~~

John looks down as he hears Cat brushing up against the couch. He wipes away his tears and picks him up. "Do you think he's happy?" He whispers to the cat, getting a soft meow. John takes a deep breath and nods. "Thanks, Cat," he whispers and lets him go, the cat running away and through the wall. John gets up and walks into the kitchen. He's not really hungry, he actually feels kind of sick. He just gets a drink though, since he knows he should at least have something. If not, he might actually get sick.

He gets a glass of water and sits at the table. He can't help but hope, that if Karkat is a ghost, he might come to see him at least once. It would be nice to apologize or maybe try and help him. He doesn't know what being a ghosts like.

~~~~

Karkat gets up and follows John after he picks up the cat. The cat ran through the wall. Cats don't run through walls. "John?" He whispers and runs over, sitting next to him. "John!" He screams at him. "Answer me! Stop ignoring me," he yells. He reaches forward and goes to punch him in the arm, but passes right through him.

It's the feeling again. He hates it. It makes him feel empty.

He sits back and wraps his arms around himself. Is he a ghost? No, there's no way. There's no such thing. But yet again, all signs point to yes. He gets up and takes a deep breath. He has to calm down. He too confused. He just leaves the room and goes into the living room. He goes to the couch and picks up the remote, throwing it against the wall. "STOP IGNORING ME," he yells.

~~~~

John jumps as he hears a bang. "Hello?" He says and gets up. He walks into the living room and picks the remote off the floor. "Little girl?" He whispers and looks around. The little girl comes downstairs and looks at John. "Are you turning on a movie?" She ask quietly. She pauses though, seeing Karkat. "Nevermind," she whispers and heads back upstairs. Disappearing halfway up the stairs.

~~~~

Karkat gasps as John comes out of the kitchen. "John?" He asks and runs to put his hand on his shoulder. John looks right past him and at the little girl on the step. Who the fuck is she? He walks away from John and up the stairs after the little girl. "Hey!" He calls but she disappears. He just stops and then chokes back a noise before sitting down on the stairs and bursting out in tears. He's dead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the like two comments. I know it's not much, but they mean a lot to me.   
> -H

Karkat follows John around for a while, talking to him in the most boring one way conversations in his life. But he's not living- it's just a saying. "You have a boring life. Is this what up do while I'm not around?" He asks and sighs, following John about his house. But then John walks upstairs and into his room. Karkat stops there though. He doesn't go in John's room; it's an invasion of his privacy. 

After an hour or so of sitting there, he starts to get a pounding headache. He puts his hand on his head and winces. It feels like there's a cut or gash there. Karkat scrambles up and heads to John's bathroom. He can see himself in the mirror, thank god. But however, his head'ss fine. He didn't know ghosts can get headaches. He jumps as he hears a noise and turns around. 

"Do you know how to turn the movies on?" A little girl asks. Typically imaging a little ghost girl, she sounds terrifying, but she's totally normal. She's probably six or so and looks sweet, but shy and confused. 

Karkat pauses and then nods. "Yeah, I do. I'll turn one on for you... if you do me a small favor?" He proposes and the little girl nods happily. "Ask the boy in his room, how his friend died. Don't say anything else though and I'll go turn on the movie. Meet me back down there," he whispers, as if John could hear. The girl disappears, so he assumes that's a yes.

~~~~

John sits in his room, his headphones in even though there's no music playing. He's just bullshitting around on his computer. The little girl knows John's rules for living there. 

1- No popping up and scaring him.  
2- Don't go in his room unless you've knocked and he invited you in. Only the cat has an exception to that.   
3- Don't go in the bathroom while John's in there  
4- Don't interrupt him when he's on the phone, driving, doing homework, someone's over, ect.   
5- John's willing to talk at any time but he has to be able to see you. He doesn't like the idea of disembodied voices. 

There are more rules, but it's mostly common sense.   
John takes his headphones out at the knock. "Come in!" He says and smiles. He'll probably have to get up to put a movie on. The little girl walks in slowly and smiles.

"I have a question," she says quietly. 

John raises an eyebrow. She doesn't normally seem hesitantly. "Go ahead..." He says slowly. Maybe she'll realize she's not alive and finally pass over. That could be great! 

"How did your friend die?" She whispers. 

John freezes and takes a deep breath. "Did you over hear me? " he asks but she just shrugs. He's assuming she did. "He uh, got into a bad car accident. It wasn't his fault, someone blew a red light," he whispers. She nods and then is gone. John sits there in confusion for a moment. Apparent she didn't come in for a movie. 

~~~~

After waiting so long, Karkat assumes she didn't ask. He sighs and sits back against the couch. He has a movie all set up, he just needs to know exactly what happened. Maybe he has ghost pains from his death. His dream he had when he woke up didn't seem too strange. 

 

The little girl is sitting next to him a second later. "He was in a car accident. Someone else ran the light or something," she says and shrugs. 

Karkat gasps as she shows up and his heart sinks at the news. "Oh, okay," he whispers. He presses play and gets up. "Thank you," he says as he heads back upstairs.

Karkat goes right into John's room and lays down. "I'm sorry I left so early and didn't believe you about the ghosts," he whispers. His head is pounding at this point, so he shuts his eyes. Ghosts don't have to sleep, but then can if they want to. He wants to so bad at this point though, maybe the headache will go away. He ends up falling asleep on John's bed.


	3. Chapter 3

John shrugs on his jacket, looking himself in the mirror on the back on the door. He takes a deep breath and runs his hand through his hair for the millionth time. He doesn’t want to leave, to have to go through this- but he knows he has to. He feels as though everyone will know that this is all his fault. No one knows Karkat was angry when he left but John will forever feel guilty about it. All everyone knows is Karkat left, and a car collided into his when it went through a red light. John doesn’t know exact details, like if he died on impact or if he was there for a while. He isn’t sure if he hit his head or how exactly the impact hurt him, and he never will. He doesn’t exactly want to know now though, since he knows it’ll haunt him his entire life. He would end up making images in his head of his best friend in his car, completely lifeless. 

This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him. 

He can’t even tell anyone why Karkat left like he did. He’s alone with two secrets now. He can’t even say he can see Karkat if he were to explain his situation to anyone either. John grabs his car keys and heads out of his room. Time for his best friends funeral. 

~~~~

Karkat sits outside of John’s door, picking at the chips of paint coming off John’s wall by the doorframe. He respects John’s privacy, so he often finds himself sitting here and waiting for John to come back out. It sometimes gets lonely but he’s a ghost, not a creep. As John comes out. he walks right through Karkat and Karkat raises an eyebrow. “Where are you going? You look nice. Do you have a date? Shouldn’t you will be mourning me?” he says, partially joking. He quickly gets up and decides to follow him. 

During his time at John’s, he’s talked to the little girl a bit and made friends with the cat. Sometimes when John isn’t home, he’ll turn on movies for her. He’s getting used to the almost complete isolation in the past few days. The little girl doesn’t know she’s dead, she even said she was perfectly living. Karkat knows she isn’t though, so he doesn’t push it. She disappears when she gets nervous and Karkat has no one else to talk to. He even asked if she could maybe talk to John for him, let him know he’s here… but she disappeared. She seemed really confused. It was sad.

Karkat follows John out of the house and into his car, getting in the backseat. He’s learned not to open doors because it seems to scare John a little. He doesn’t like doing that, so he just goes through them. The past few days he’s spent his time laying around. trying to act like he’s alive. He even ate the other day. He got no satisfaction from it though. He misses ice cream. He has also learned that when he moves things, John can tell. He’s knocked over a few glasses, picture frames, tossed things, and banged on a few things- John hears it all! Yet, he doesn’t hear him. “Drive carefully alright, dumbass? I don’t want to die twice and I would prefer if at least you were alive,” he says and gives a small sad laugh. He tries to keep himself humored. He talks with John a lot, or rather he’s talked to him a lot. He’s just talking to himself at this point. 

Karkat looks down and grabs a pen that was on the floor. He tosses it up at John, getting a big gasp from him, making Karkat laugh. “It’s good to be alive,” he whispers and lays down in the back seat. 

~~~~

John jumps and makes an embarrassing noise, looking at the pen that just hit him. There’s no way in hell that is a coincidence, nor could all the other things that have been happening. He groans and takes his keys out of the ignition. “Listen! I don’t know if maybe I’ve finally lost it or maybe you’re a new ghost, or if you’re even the same ghost that has been messing with me?! But since apparently you’re not one of my usual two, I should let you know some of me rules. One- don't mess with me while I'm busy and by that I mean doing homework or driving or talking on the phone or other times like that.  
Two- I understand that sometimes ghosts don't want to be heard or seen, but I don't want to be messed with. Also, don't pop up places. Three- I'll let you know... Because I'm busy right now and I can't think. But you can always talk to me…” he says quietly and takes a deep breath. “My name is John,” he adds. He starts the car and starts driving to the funeral home. 

~~~~

Karkat’s eyes widen and he sits up. “I don’t know how to let you hear me or see me,” he says defeatedly. “ACKNOWLEDGE ME YOU ASSMUG, I’M DEAD BUT YOU’RE NOT DEAD TO ME,” he yells at him but John’s completely unfazed, driving calmly to Karkat’s funeral. Karkat makes a low noise and slumps back. “Fuck you,” he whispers and sighs.

~~skip~~

Sitting at your own funeral is something people don’t normally planned. Assuming ghosts aren’t real, people usually don’t think they’ll be at their own funerals. It’s nothing to brag about. Actually, it’s the worst thing he’s ever done in his entire life. There’s so much self-loathing and yet, he’s the one that’s dead! Everyone’s sad that they never got to say goodbye and yet, there he is! He feels as though he never left! But he tries to understand that people only see him for what is in the casket. Speaking of caskets, his was closed. He’s thankful because he was no idea what the accident did to him and he isn’t looking for visual proof. His parents were there, they stood by the casket and whispered “Thank You” when people tried to give them comfort. Dave wasn’t there- shithead. But all his other friends were there, he didn’t go near them though. There were too many tears and too much sadness. John cried the entire time. But it wasn’t like the weak, pathetic cry he could bust on him for… it was stoic. He kept his head up and didn’t speak, only nodding and shaking his head. He didn’t make a noise the entire time, until he went up to say his goodbyes. 

~~~~

John puts his hand on top of the casket and bites his lip. “I’m sorry for what happened. I can’t help feeling it’s my fault, but I’m glad that you’re in a better place. I hate that I let you run out like that, and then continued to be mad at you when... there was no /you/ to be mad at. You are my best friend and I tried putting something too big on your shoulders, I regret it a lot. I’m sorry, Karkat…” he whispers, sniffling back tears. 

~~~ 

Karkat stands next to John and goes to touch his shoulder, but he knows he’ll go right through him. “I’m sorry,” he whispers and sighs. He goes over to the bouquet and rips some of it off. He drops it and as John looks over, he feels some relief. He is there is some sense. He’s not going anywhere. 

~~~~

John chokes back tears and takes a deep breath. He watches the flower fall and takes another out of the bouquet and slips it in the bow on top of the casket. “Fuck, even the flowers are dying,” he whispers and wipes his eyes. 

~~~~  
Back at home, Karkat follows John in. John hasn’t said anything, but why would he? He’s alone in his house. No Karkat to be seen or heard. For all he knows, Karkat’s in the ground now. John goes over and sits on the couch, laying his head back against it. “I miss you,” he whispers to the nothingness of his house, but Karkat knows he’s talking to him.

Karkat laughs quietly and walks over to the table. John has some framed pictures of him and family and friends there. He picks one up of John and him. It was a few years ago, in John’s old house. They’re playing video games intensely on John’s couch, a cookie hanging out of Karkat’s mouth as they worked hard to beat each other at the game. He picks it up, deciding that he should drop it to let John know someone's there. “I miss you, too,” he whispers and sighs, looking at the picture again. He hopes he doesn’t break it, he just wants John’s attention. He’s about to drop it to the floor when John gasps. 

~~~~

John was just talking to himself after Karkat’s funeral, saying how much he missed his best friend. He assumed after all this, Karkat had passed on. He’s happy for him and all, but wow he misses him so bad… But then, he swears he heard him. He’s officially lost it. He looks over in the direction of the voice, expecting emptiness… but Karkat’s right there. He’s holding the picture of them. “Karkat,” he says slowly, his thoughts registering. But then his eyes widen and he springs up. “KARKAT?!” he says as he runs over and hugs him tightly, sobbing all over again. 

 

~~~~

Karkat stops like a deer in headlights, “John?” he whispers. He gasps as John hugs him, not passing through and he freezes before quickly hugging him in return- holding on to him helplessly. “Holy shit, you heard me. How did you hear me?! I’ve been trying so hard, you never heard me,” he whispers and can’t help but sob, too. He was starting to lose hope in ever talking to John again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there will be more of an explaination in the next chapter. Enjoy! (I also typed this one on my computer instead of my phone so it's longer than the others.  
> -H


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry guys but I'm not really interested in writing this anymore. I think about it a lot but I'm not really motivated at all. Sorry for update on this taking so long.

Life's just gotten a bit rough lately


End file.
